OPITO Crowns 2017 Apprentice of the Year

A former Peterhead Academy student who followed in his family’s footsteps into the oil and gas sector has been named by the global skills for energy body, OPITO, as its Apprentice of the Year 2017.

Ashley Thomas is a second-year process operations apprentice at North East Scotland College in Aberdeen. He was selected to join the Oil and Gas Technical Apprentice Program (OGTAP) in 2016.

Mr Thomas grew up near the St Fergus Gas Terminal in Aberdeenshire passing it on his way to school every day. As well as being inspired by the careers of his stepfather and cousin, he also has more than a dozen friends from the area who are either in the process of completing their OGTAP apprenticeships or have finished it and now working within the sector.

OGTAP is one of the biggest industry-led apprenticeship initiatives of its kind in the UK and has brought around 1,500 young people into the oil and gas industry since its inception in 1999. The program also boasts one of the highest achievement rates in the country and has the backing of 17 oil and gas operators and major contractors.

Managed by OPITO and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB), OGTAP is open to those looking to become apprentices in one of four areas: electrical maintenance, mechanical maintenance, process operations, and instrumentation and control maintenance.

Every year, the best performing OPITO candidate from each discipline is put forward by their college tutors and OPITO mentors for the Apprentice of the Year final. A panel of industry judges interviews each one to decide who should win the coveted title.

The other three OPITO finalists, also in their second year of their OGTAP apprenticeships, were Guy Dennis from Norfolk (electrical maintenance), Aberdonian Jonny Fennell (mechanical maintenance) and Stuart Brown (instrumentation and control maintenance) from Edinburgh.

OPITO is the global, not-for-profit, skills body for the energy industry. More than 250,000 people are trained to OPITO standards every year, across 45 countries through 200 accredited training centers.